From a scheduled prehistoric wedge tomb and a medieval church site to the motte, schools, community landmarks and the living landscape of Mallusk and Hydepark, the history of this district is layered into the ground around us.
The explorer now follows the local orientation more closely: Roughfort is shown in the upper part of the landscape, with Mallusk and Hydepark below and to the south-east. Select a numbered marker to open the research record for that place.
A recorded wedge tomb in Craigarogan, also known in the archaeological record as Carn Greine, Granias Grave and Granny’s Grave. It is one of the oldest known heritage sites in the Roughfort landscape.
Explore this story →The recorded site of a medieval church and graveyard at Roughfort/Craigarogan. The old graveyard is also identified on nineteenth-century Ordnance Survey mapping.
Explore this story →The surviving motte is part of the medieval landscape of Roughfort and remains one of the clearest historic features from which the settlement takes its name.
Explore this story →The Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record identifies a battle site dated 1567 in the Craigarogan/Roughfort area. RHCPS will treat this as a research point while gathering further documentary context.
Explore this story →Opened in 1898, the hall served worship, meetings, music, remembrance and community life for almost eight decades before the fire of 1977. Its surviving walls remain part of the local landscape.
Explore this story →Historic mapping records a National School and Craigarogan School in 1857 and Roughfort Primary School in 1901. The former schoolhouse also preserves the memory of Lieutenant John Carruth.
Explore this story →A circular cropmark recorded from aerial photography in Craigarogan. Its date and function remain uncertain, making it an important research point rather than a fully interpreted monument.
Explore this story →An elliptical cropmark in Craigarogan recorded from aerial photography. Like the nearby circular cropmark, its archaeological period is currently uncertain.
Explore this story →Mallusk and Hydepark sit lower down the local landscape from Roughfort and are closely tied to the area’s schools, churches, memorials, community organisations and heritage trail.
Explore this story →SMR ANT051:067 records an Early Christian souterrain in Craigarogan/Roughfort, but the site is unlocated. It is therefore deliberately not shown as a precise marker.
Marker positions are designed for orientation and storytelling, not legal boundary or survey use. Archaeological references shown here are drawn from the Sites and Monuments Record information collated by RHCPS; uncertain or unlocated sites are identified as such.
A visual route through some of the key periods currently represented in RHCPS research and local heritage material.
A scheduled wedge tomb in Craigarogan preserves one of the earliest recorded layers of the Roughfort landscape.
The recorded medieval church and graveyard site and the Roughfort motte show that this small area held important settlement and ecclesiastical activity long before the modern village.
The Sites and Monuments Record identifies a battle site dated 1567 in Craigarogan. RHCPS is retaining it as an active research point while further context is assembled.
Roughfort became connected with the history of the United Irishmen, while the Liberty Tree is traditionally associated with the first anniversary of the 1798 Rebellion.
Ordnance Survey records identify a National School and Craigarogan School in 1857 and Roughfort Primary School in 1901, reflecting the long importance of education in the district.
The foundation stone was laid in April and the hall officially opened in September, beginning almost eight decades of community use.
Men from Roughfort, Hydepark, Craigarogan, Mallusk and nearby townlands served across the conflict; local memorials continue to preserve their names.
The hall continued as a gathering place during the Second World War, including events connected with the Ulster Home Guard and local welcome-home efforts.
Roughfort Orange Hall was destroyed by fire in July 1977. The surviving walls remain part of the local landscape.
Roughfort Heritage and Cultural Preservation Society was founded to research, protect and promote the area’s heritage and cultural life.
Community-developed heritage signs were officially launched in Mallusk and Roughfort, helping make local history visible in the landscape.
Research, education, remembrance, community programmes and new partnerships continue to add fresh chapters to Roughfort’s story.
These records help place local tradition alongside formal archaeological evidence. Where a site is uncertain, unlocated or still being researched, the website says so rather than presenting interpretation as settled fact.
The Sites and Monuments Record identifies this Craigarogan monument as a wedge tomb, with the alternative names Carn Greine, Granias Grave and Granny’s Grave. It is assigned broadly to the Neolithic/Bronze Age and is a scheduled monument.
A medieval or late-medieval ecclesiastical site is recorded at Roughfort/Craigarogan. The record identifies the site of a church and graveyard, while nineteenth-century mapping also records the location as the Old Grave Yard.
The Roughfort motte is one of the area’s most visible historic earthworks and is thought to date from the medieval period. It forms a major part of the settlement’s landscape story and later became associated with local memory of the United Irishmen and 1798.
The Sites and Monuments Record includes a battle site dated 1567 in Craigarogan. RHCPS is retaining this as a research point while further documentary evidence and historical context are assembled.
Two aerial-photography sites are recorded in Craigarogan: a circular cropmark (ANT051:112) and an elliptical cropmark (ANT051:113). Their period and function remain uncertain, so they are best understood as archaeological research clues rather than interpreted monuments.
An Early Christian souterrain is recorded for Craigarogan/Roughfort, but its precise location is not known. For that reason it is deliberately not pinned to a precise point on the heritage explorer.
The historic map record identifies a National School and Craigarogan School in the 1857 mapping, with Roughfort Primary School appearing in the 1901 record. Together they show the long importance of education within this rural community.
The surviving former schoolhouse is also connected with Lieutenant John Carruth, whose memorial remains an important part of the district’s Great War story.
Explore Lieutenant John Carruth’s story →Opened in 1898, the hall became a centre for worship, meetings, missions, concerts, dances, fundraising and community activity until its destruction by fire in 1977.
Its surviving walls, together with the surrounding archaeological and historic sites, make this small part of Roughfort an unusually concentrated heritage landscape.
Read the full hall story →
Mallusk and Hydepark lie lower down the local landscape to the south-east of Roughfort. Their churches, cemetery, schools, community halls and memorials are woven through the same wider story.
The RHCPS heritage explorer keeps that relationship visually clear: Roughfort sits above, with Mallusk and Hydepark below rather than being shown as neighbouring points on an abstract diagram.
Explore the 2023 heritage-sign project →Historic records become more powerful when they are connected back to the people and places they represent.
RHCPS uses historic maps, Sites and Monuments Record references, archive material, newspapers and local knowledge to build the story of the district. Formal identifiers and grid references are retained where available so future research can be checked against the original record.
As more evidence becomes available, individual heritage entries can be expanded into full articles with photographs, historic map extracts used under the appropriate permissions, and referenced source notes.
Family photographs, old programmes, newspaper cuttings, memories and information about local people can all help strengthen the historical record.
If you have material connected with Roughfort, Hydepark, Craigarogan, Mallusk or the surrounding district, the Society would be pleased to hear from you.
Share a memory or photograph